Tate arrives at her brother's San Francisco apartment and finds an intoxicated, sobbing man blocking the hallway door.

Miles is asked to escort a new student named Rachel to English class and falls in love with her instantly.

Miles discovers that Rachel's mother is the woman his father has been secretly dating, making them soon-to-be stepsiblings.

Miles kisses Tate while she stitches his injured hand at Thanksgiving, then immediately tells her not to let it happen again.

Miles and Tate agree to a no-strings sexual arrangement: she cannot ask about his past or expect a future with him.

Miles and Rachel break their rule against sex when their parents leave home for the weekend.

Rachel takes a pregnancy test that comes back positive, and Miles immediately goes out to gather family housing information.

Miles tells his father and Rachel's mother that Rachel is pregnant, and his father strikes him in rage.

Rachel gives birth to a baby boy, and Miles names him Clayton after the English teacher where they first met.

Blinding light from oncoming traffic causes Miles to crash his car into a lake on the drive home from the hospital.

Miles frees Rachel from the submerged car but cannot reach baby Clayton in time, and Clayton drowns.

Rachel leaves Miles a note saying she can no longer be with him because his face reminds her of Clayton.

Tate moves out to her own apartment and says goodbye to Miles, who responds with complete emotional detachment.

Miles visits Rachel and discovers she is happily remarried with a daughter, finding the courage to confront his grief.

Miles takes Tate and Cap up in his airplane, gives Tate a key to his apartment, and proposes marriage.

Tate Collins moves to San Francisco and literally stumbles into Miles Archer's life when she finds him sobbing and drunk outside her brother's apartment door. Their chemistry ignites at Thanksgiving, leading them to a secret arrangement built on Miles's strict rules: no asking about his past and no expecting a future. Through alternating flashbacks, the reader learns Miles carries a devastating secret — as a teenager he loved Rachel, fathered a child named Clayton, and lost his son in a car crash on the way home from the hospital. Rachel's grief eventually pulled her away from Miles, leaving him emotionally sealed off for six years. After Tate finally walks away by moving to her own apartment, Miles gets the push he needs from Ian and Cap to confront his past by visiting Rachel. With his grief finally faced, Miles reunites with Tate and proposes marriage on an airplane, launching a new chapter for them both.

The central love story of Tate and Miles, from first meeting to marriage proposal.

Tate meets Cap, the building's elderly elevator attendant, who tells her birthmarks reveal how a person died in a past life.

A married man named Dillon flirts with Tate in the elevator on her first night in the building, but she rejects his advances.

Miles confronts Tate the morning after she helped him inside, angrily demanding to know if they had slept together.

Corbin returns home and helps Miles and Tate move her belongings in; Miles reintroduces himself to her to start fresh.

Miles steps in and forces Dillon to leave the kitchen when Dillon tries to flirt with Tate during Thursday game night.

Miles insists Tate use his apartment to study, and she discovers the space is completely bare of any personal belongings.

Tate's mother asks probing questions about Miles during the family's Thanksgiving gathering, sensing Tate's unspoken feelings for him.

Miles hangs curtains and adds a rug to his previously empty apartment, and Tate sees the small change as hopeful progress.

Miles receives a promotion to captain, and Tate joins Corbin and Ian for a celebratory dinner in his honor.

Miles and Tate are caught in a rainstorm walking to her car after the dinner and have sex inside the vehicle.

After having unprotected sex with Tate, Miles slams his bedroom door shut and leaves her alone without any explanation.

Miles sees a male classmate visiting Tate and jealously barges into her apartment demanding to know if she is sleeping with him.

Corbin walks in on Tate and Miles together and demands to know if Miles loves her; Miles quietly says no.

Cap shares pizza with Tate after a long hospital shift and tells her he believes Miles has stronger feelings than he admits.

Miles and Tate's baby daughter is born and named Sam, after Cap's real name, Samuel.

From the moment Tate arrives in her brother's building, the colorful people around her define her experience — especially Cap, the wise and witty elevator attendant who quickly becomes her closest confidant. Her early days also include fending off the unwanted advances of Dillon and cautiously navigating the guarded, complicated Miles. Their secret romance unfolds through small but telling details: Miles's barren apartment, a curtain hung for the first time in years, a jealous confrontation over a male classmate, and a stolen kiss in a rainstorm after a celebration dinner. Corbin's eventual discovery of the arrangement forces a moment of reckoning that neither Tate nor Miles can dodge. Through it all, Cap quietly keeps Tate grounded with honest advice and a sympathetic ear. The pool closes on the epilogue's quiet joy — a baby girl named Sam, honoring the man who saw their love clearly long before they could.

The supporting cast and everyday moments that quietly shape Tate and Miles's secret romance.

Miles weeps uncontrollably on the couch and calls Tate by the name Rachel repeatedly through the night.

Miles sneaks over to Rachel's house and they acknowledge their feelings are too strong to deny despite their parents' relationship.

Miles confides in his best friend Ian about his secret romantic involvement with Rachel.

Miles and Rachel establish covert rules for dating under the same roof, including a strict ban on sex.

Miles and Rachel spend a day at the beach together; Rachel breaks the mood by telling Miles her period is late.

Tate offers Miles an ultimatum to admit he has real feelings for her or take her home; he drives her home in silence.

Tate finally names her one rule for their arrangement: Miles must never give her false hope of a future together.

Miles shows Rachel the family housing approval letter after graduation, and they announce their plans to move out to their parents.

Miles's father visits the hospital after Clayton is born and tells Miles he is proud of the man his son has become.

Miles's father reveals he and Miles's mother had agreed to divorce before her illness began, clearing his name of betrayal.

Miles breaks down crying in front of Tate during their argument about his mixed signals, mirroring the night they first met.

Cap tells Miles he cannot keep avoiding love out of fear and urges him to visit Rachel to find closure.

Miles waits six hours outside Tate's new apartment door and, when she arrives, finally opens up about his son.

Miles reveals to Tate that the night she found him drunk in the hallway was his son's sixth birthday.

Miles holds his newborn daughter for the first time and discovers his capacity to love and feel true happiness has returned.

Pool 3 traces the pivotal moments of revelation and decision that form the emotional backbone of both storylines. In the past timeline, Miles and Rachel navigate a forbidden romance through secret rules and stolen time, only for a single devastating car crash to shatter everything they built together. In the present, Tate repeatedly faces the cost of loving someone who refuses to be known — giving him an ultimatum, setting her own rule, and ultimately walking away when he cannot meet her halfway. Miles, confronted by Ian's unflinching honesty and Cap's quiet wisdom, finally takes the leap of visiting Rachel, whose hard-won happiness shows him that healing is genuinely possible. He returns to Tate with the truth he has withheld for six years, including the revelation that the night she first found him weeping in the hallway was his son's sixth birthday. The pool closes with Miles holding his newborn daughter Sam, proving that even the most grief-locked heart can find its way back to love.

The hidden truths, key decisions, and emotional breakthroughs that drive both timelines forward.